Hofstra Law School’s Externship Program permits second and third year students to receive academic credit for working in selected legal placements, attending and participating in a weekly class, maintaining a diary based on the experience obtained in the externship placement and producing a specified amount of writing based on legal research. The Program is part of the larger Hofstra Law School Skills program, which includes the Trial Techniques Program, pre-trial litigation, Inns of Court, Moot Court, in-house clinical programs, simulation courses and independent studies. The Externship Program focuses on providing you with an opportunity to gain substantive legal experience, under the direct supervision and guidance of an experienced attorney, so as to increase your sense of the reality of being a lawyer, while at the same time focusing your analytic attention upon the role of attorneys in our society, and your critical judgment upon various legal institutions with which you will become involved during this course.

We invite you to view the Frequently Asked Questions sections of this website, which should answer many questions you may have regarding the Externship Program. If you have any additional questions regarding the Externship Program, please contact Vernadette Horne, Esq., Director of Career Services, at 516-463-5871 or lawvhh@hofstra.edu.

“I could not have asked for a more rewarding experience than the one I gained as an extern at Liz Claiborne, Inc. . . . [i]t was a wonderful experience and I would recommend the externship program to anyone who would like to gain experience in a specialized area where employment opportunities may not otherwise be available.”
    — Renada Riley King, Class of ’09

“The Hofstra Law Externship Program is remarkable, and I would encourage all students to participate in it. I am truly appreciative for this program, as it has allowed me to experience what the practice of law is like in the “real world,” and apply the theoretical knowledge that I learned in law school, and develop the skills necessary to be an attorney.”
    — Michael Skepner, Class of ’10

“As an intern with the New York City Police, Department’s Legal Bureau - Civil Section, I was treated as a staff attorney, being assigned cases and expected to see them through from intake to motion submission . . . [f]rom gaining significant legal research and writing experience, to negotiating the basics of court motion submissions, along with working with knowledgeable attorneys whom I retain contact, the experience with the NYPD Legal Bureau fulfilled all my externship goals.”
    — Nicholas Gaus, Class of ’10